Selfies cause of more than 250 deaths over six-year period, research shows

New Delhi — More than 250 people were killed while taking selfies from October 2011 to November 2017, according to the results of a recent study conducted by researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Searching the internet for selfie-related news reports from an “exhaustive list” of English-language newspapers over the six-year period, the researchers identified 137 incidents that resulted in 259 deaths.

Among the findings:

• 72.5 percent of the victims were male.
• 20-somethings had the most casualties with 106, followed by tweens and teens with 76.
• 70 deaths involved drowning, while 51 involved transportation (i.e., taking a selfie in front of an approaching train). Falls and fires both were linked to 48 deaths.
• 159 deaths occurred in India, followed by Russia (16), the United States (14) and Pakistan (11).

The researchers said that many high-risk tourist locations should be deemed “no-selfie zones” to discourage unsafe behaviors near places such as mountain peaks, tall buildings or bodies of water.

The study was published in the July-August 2018 edition of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.